About the Conference Theme

Cultivating Community: A Right to Belong

In a well-designed garden, each plant has its place in the soil where it can grow to its fullest and bear fruit. Christ the Gardener is cultivating a community for us here, where all of His followers have a place to flourish. We await the fulfillment of this Kingdom Come where we all will have a place prepared for us in God’s Garden.

As we wait, we are commissioned to carry Christ’s message of acceptance to the people of this world. His death and resurrection have carved out a place where all people are welcome to join in faith and love and hope. This message of acceptance, we carry together to proclaim to one another and to the nations.

This message needs to be heard. But, as college students, we tend to be wanderers, placeless, and wondering what to do with ourselves and where we fit in the world. This conference exists to tell you, “You belong here, among God’s people, to love and to be loved, waiting in hope of God’s Garden. Here is where your roots will grow deep and your branches tall.”

As we work out our place, the world is filled with placeless people: refugees, the homeless, the sick, the landless, the starving, the oppressed, and the poor. We share a message of acceptance with them. The world excludes them from its societies as it often excludes us from senses of purpose and meaning, but Christ the Gardener has a place for us all.

Therefore, let us see what it means to become co-workers with Christ by proclaiming everyone’s right to belong through Christ. With all our resources, talents, expertise, wealth, and education, let us labor for the world’s dispossessed and find that we all belong in one community, the Garden of God.

About the Conference

The Faith and International Development Conference (FIDC) has brought students and practitioners together to share in their enthusiasm for development work and build relationships through networking for the past 8 years. The cornerstone of this conference is built on the faith that we are redeemed in Christ and called to be his hands and feet throughout the world.